efficiency

Run Your Office More Efficiently In These 3 Ways

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Clearly, if you want your office to be run in the best possible way, you need to make sure that you are going to know how to achieve that and what it entails. Most business owners will want their office to be run as efficiently as possible, and this is something that takes a lot of time to get right. However, by understanding some of the basics of what are involved, we can appreciate what it takes to run an office truly efficiently. In this article, we will look specifically at just a few examples of what you can do to make sure that your office is run more efficiently. If you take these things on board and put them into action, you will find that you can expect greater results from your office, and that you will therefore have a healthier business as well. Let’s take a look and see what it takes.

The Right IT

All businesses these days need to have a real positive understanding of their IT systems and how they are used if they hope to have an efficiently run office. After all, you are going to be using this IT in many ways, so the clearer you are on this, the more likely it is that you will be able to make good use of it. One of the best things to think about there is to make sure you have the right kind of systems in place for your office specifically, and that they are providing the right kind of solution for you. You will also want to make sure that you have good IT support, either in the form of an in-house team or you could visit this website to find a company which can help you out on that front. Either way, as long as you can look after your IT properly, your office will benefit from this.

Streamlining

It’s also important to make sure that you are keeping things as simple as can be in the office. If you find that your procedures often get a little too complex, then this can really cause some trouble and means that the office is not going to work as efficiently as it could. Instead, you should aim to keep things simple, and that means that you might need to focus on some kind of streamlining process at some point. The more streamlined you keep the processes within your office, the more simple it will remain, and that will mean that everything is considerably more streamlined as a result.

Employee Numbers

There is something of a balance to be struck when it comes to trying to keep your employee numbers in the best possible position too, for having the right number of people can really make a huge difference overall. If you have too many, then you may well struggle to keep things simple, but having too few will mean that you don’t get anything done. Work hard to find the balance between the two, so that you can run your office as efficiently as you would hope.

4 Ways to Create a Productive Workplace for Your Employees

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Productivity in the workplace starts with creating an inspiring environment where employees are motivated to do their best work. This sort of atmosphere is one that is encouraging, supportive, and authentic. Curious as to how you can maximize productivity in the workplace? Read on.

Know the Difference between Productivity and Efficiency

While both productivity and efficiency have their place in the working world, the most productive businesses know that productivity focuses on performance rather than streamlining resources. With efficiency, companies focus on cutting costs and reducing resources by any means necessary. While saving money is important, business focused on boosting productivity must invest in their employees and their workplace. For example, instead of trying to be more efficient by cutting out funding for office cleaning, employers focused on productivity will find a way to improve their bottom line by encouraging their employees to do work more effectively.

Tap into Employees’ Purpose

The most productive workers have a deeper reason for why they come to work. While getting paid is part of why they do what they do, it isn’t the driving force that pushes them to work hard. Employees that really believe in what their company is doing will always give more of an effort than an individual that is just looking to collect a paycheck. Employers that are able to feed this need for passion for their team members will ensure that they feel fulfilled doing their work, which will lead to an increase in productivity.

Compensate Employees Well

To do their best work, employees need to know they are valued. What better way than to compensate them accordingly? Employers that pay their team fairly and consistently will always find that their employees are more dedicated to their jobs than they would be otherwise.

Prioritize Work-Life Balance

Instead of leaving the act of finding a work-life balance up to employees, employers that take the initiative to establish a well-defined work-life balance will be able to give their workers a better sense of personal well-being. Being able to sufficiently separate life from work will reduce the risk of burnout, allowing employees to come into work more refreshed and ready to get work done.

When employees do come into work, they should feel that they are coming into a place that is filled with positive energy. Employers can make the actual experience of working more enjoyable by implementing various practices like hot desking and remote working to make their employees feel that they have some flexibility with how they get work done.

Productivity in the workplace isn’t something that happens by accident. Employers must be intentional about creating a work culture that cultivates passion and motivation. Use these four tips to take your employees to new heights of productivity.

Emma is a business strategist-turned blogger. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Emma is a  passionate traveler and yoga aficionado. She is in love with coffee, interior design, books, and good vibes. 🙂 

Every Bit Counts: 5 Areas to Focus on to Improve Your Whole Business

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Every business needs a little boost here and there with the success of a business often focused on the ability of a manager to see and reach their potential. A number of areas can be identified which are important for the future of a business, including the purchasing of new equipment and having faith in employees.

Trusting Your Employees

One of the most common areas of concern for a new manager or entrepreneur is entrusting the vision they have for their business to a group of employees. New managers and those responsible for establishing a business often feel they have to micromanage their employees to get the best results, but having faith in those you employ can result in new ideas and options for success in the future.

Take a Look at Your Current Situation

If you are looking to improve your entire business it is clear you believe new ideas are needed for the future of your career. The first step in understanding how to improve your business is to begin working to analyze every department of your business and begin understanding what is working and what is not. Analytics and the use of artificial intelligence in every industrial sector are changing the way business is being done around the world.

Use New Equipment to Improve Efficiency

A business can only work as well as the employees and equipment in place, which means outdated technology can cause major issues in any company. Small Business reports a Microsoft survey revealed millennials cite outdated equipment as the main problem with completing their work in a successful way. In many industries, the latest equipment is a requirement to reach business goals. For example, bakers need a lot of equipment. As technology advances they’ll need to update equipment. Therefore, they’ll need to find trustworthy companies to be their oven and industrial mixer suppliers.

Appearance Is an Important Part of Any Business

If you are involved in a business where clients regularly visit your office the first impression you make is always important. A clean, technologically up-to-date office space is vital to impressing existing and potential clients who will be important to the future success of your business. However, don’t fall into the trap of being something you’re not. For example, if your company boasts family-friendly services, a cozier atmosphere is probably the way to go.

Set out Clear Goals

The goals your business hopes to reach are an important part of your business and allows every member of your team to work together to achieve your stated aims. Making sure every member of your team understands the goals you have set out is important and should include a system for reviewing and addressing how successful your business has been.

Alongside making sure your business has the right equipment and tools to complete your stated aims, it is important to make sure you are clearly communicating your goals to your team. Addressing your goals and making sure they are being reached should form part of the culture of businesses of all sizes.

Dixie Somers is a freelance writer and blogger for business, home, and family niches. Dixie lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the proud mother of three beautiful girls and wife to a wonderful husband.

Time is Money: 4 Types of Products to Add in Your Business for Improved Efficiency

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Efficiency is vital to your business and its productivity. With efficient processes, you are able to save time without having to sacrifice quality. If the policies and procedures set in place cause employees to spend lots of time trying to complete a task, this will result in a loss of productivity for the business as a whole. Thankfully, there are emerging technologies that can help not only save your company time, but also money and energy as well. Here are four types of products that would benefit your business with improved efficiency.

Time Tracking Software

Time tracking software allows you and your employees to effectively record hours for payroll, billing, and operations in general. It captures time spend on work assignments and provides an insight on projects that eat up a lot of your employees time. The software lets you analyze and break down time consuming tasks into smaller, more productive tasks that can be completed faster.

Entity Extraction Software

Entity extraction software, also known as named entity recognition and entity name extraction, it a technique that identifies and classifies key elements from text to pre-defined categories. It takes unstructured data and compiles it into structured data that is now machine readable and available for easy retrieval. Structured data makes it easier to understand the data contained in documents, files, spreadsheets, web pages, etc.

Business Cloud Solutions

The cloud is a centralized location on the internet that stores data and files, making it easier to access them anytime from any location. The cloud consists of cloud storage, cloud backup, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud hosting. Since the cloud doesn’t require expensive hardware for your business, it reduces the need for additional expensive of on-site equipment. The cloud also automatically updates data and files stored, which is another added timesaver.

Business Messaging Software

Messaging software offers your business an advantage to using traditional email and messaging. They provide a single location where you and your employees can utilize text messages, video chats, private chats, screen-sharing, and email messaging all in one centralized app. Messaging software also allows for you and your employees to stay closely connected in real time from different locations across the country.

Simple solutions such as these allow your business to flow more effectively and efficiently. From a business standpoint, it just makes sense to implement procedures that are of benefit to the business and employees productivity as a whole.

Emma is a freelance writer based out of Boston, MA. She writes most often on health and education. When not writing, she enjoys reading and watching film noir. Say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2

How to Set up Retail Employees to be More Efficient

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It’s important in the retail industry that work be done efficiently. Whether it’s working at the register, restocking merchandise, or answering customer questions, there’s not a lot of time to spare. When employees are not efficient, this often leads to a significant decrease in customer satisfaction, sales, and overall company productivity. Of course, this isn’t always the employees’ fault. With various tasks comes time wasted by nature, but with modern advances in retail technology, you can help them cut down on that waste and make the most out of their most productive hours. The following are a few ways you can tackle this problem to help to ensure that your retail employees have all the tools they need to prevent any time being wasted.

Time Management

Clocking in and out in of itself can be a major time-waster. While the punch card shows when they officially clocked in, that doesn’t account for the time that they waited in line with the others on their shift to punch in, or the time it takes for them to put their card away, get ready, and get to their station. The same problem comes with clocking out, but your employees are still required to work the same set hours, which means that they’re wasting clocked-in time just working around the time management system. By leveraging the power of cloud-based solutions for clocking employees in, employees can clock in without having to wait in line or fumble with old-fashioned punch card machines. Clocking in and out for lunches and shifts will be much more efficient when your employee can clock in from their phone, saving their frustration as well as the time you’re paying for.

Organization

Organization is a critical aspect towards encouraging your employees to engage in and maintain increased efficiency. Nothing wastes time more than when an employee is constantly stuck looking for the items they need to do their job, rather than actually doing their job. Setting aside lockers or designated shelves for employees to keep their belongings and equipment will reduce wasted time and even reduce the instances of lost or broken equipment. This saves your company in both time and costs, as well as shows your employees that you are aware of their needs and working to help them succeed.

Improved Communications

One area often overlooked for improving employee efficiency is in the area of general in-house communications. The use of Motorola 2 way radios in NYC retail businesses can lead to significant increases in response time and team work from your employees. Calling out on the intercom isn’t an efficient or effective way to get the right employee to the right place for customer assistance, or for any task for that matter. Being able to address employees directly and privately through two-way radios allows for employees to address one another as a group or get the attention of an individual employee as needed. By utilizing the services of unified communication installation experts to make this type of efficient employee-to-employee communication possible, customers will be thrilled with the increase in service efficiency.

The Company Newsletter

A great way to keep your employees informed on how to ramp up efficiency in the workplace is by providing tips and insights through a companywide employee newsletter. This can be especially helpful for new employees who may not yet be fully aware of all of your company’s policies and procedures. The tips being provided can help to inform employees, both new and old, on how to improve their own efficiency on the job. This also will help with quickly and effectively alerting all employees to changes in shift schedules, policy adjustments, and extra-hours opportunities in a way that they can reference later as needed.

By taking these steps to improve your company efficiency, it will be much easier to cut down on wasted time. Retail employees are generally paid by the hour, which means that time is money in this industry, money that no one can afford to waste. If these solutions don’t appeal to you, try holding an open meeting with your employees to see if they are aware of any issues that make their job harder and impede their productivity. Maintaining open communication with your employees can help reap great benefits and give you the feedback you need to ensure optimum efficiency in your business.

Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.

How Digital Transformation is Shaping Industries

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Nowadays, we live in a primarily digital world. Almost everything has transferred online or became digitized these days. The fact of the matter is that technological innovations and advancements are disrupting industries left and right. Simply put, modern technology is forcing industries to take on a new approach, in order to remain relevant in the market, as well as remain efficient. However, technology isn’t the only reason industries must consider a digital approach.

As a matter of fact, it’s the consumers and their purchasing habits and behavior, as well as their tendency to follow the latest trends that also forces industries to adapt. If you don’t adapt, in order to meet consumer expectations and needs, your competitors will most definitely outrun you. Companies across various industries must simply develop a more consumer-centric solution, in order to continue providing a seamless customer experience. That being said, here are a few ways how digital transformation is shaping industries.

Chasing a competitive advantage

Newest innovations on the market are always regarded by companies as an opportunity to outrun competitors. The main reason so many companies across various industries are prioritizing digitalization is that it may allow them to gain a competitive advantage. It only takes a single business to disrupt an entire industry and drastically change the rules simply by adopting a new technology or developing a new approach.

That’s why most companies are in one way or another prioritizing digitalization. As a matter of fact, 47% of company CEOs stated that they are being pushed towards adopting a digital approach for their business by their board of directors while 56% stated that their business digitalization efforts are already increasing company profits. In essence, while some companies are considering digitalization others are already implementing new strategies and approaches. In other words, the digital transformation is bound to happen across various industries sooner or later.

Improving efficiency

The fact that every industry is about to experience a digital transformation is evident. Even the industries that are less likely to consider digitalization, such as oil and gas sector are in fact, doing so. Resource exploration industry has so far avoided digitalization but even they have to adapt to modern trends and innovations. The main reason is that a digital approach enables the oil and gas sector to improve efficiency, reduce operational costs and streamline entire processes, among other things.

That being said, oil extraction professionals that are keeping up with the latest technology have implemented an ecommerce solution. As a matter of fact, reliable oilfield equipment zone essentials can be easily bought and acquired online, thus reducing the downtime and maintenance costs for mission-critical equipment on the field. Not only that but artificial intelligence and automation are also making their way into the resource exploration industry, helping operators streamline the processes of detection and exploitation of natural resources.

Meeting consumer demands

As mentioned before, consumer habits are oftentimes one of the main reasons why industries and companies develop a new approach. After all, if you’re not relevant to your customers you will lose a battle to your competitors. Consumer demand for increased and improved connectivity, as well as their increasing interest in smart devices and IoT (Internet of Things), has already made an impact on various businesses ranging from retail to ecommerce and so on. These demands have made their way even to the automotive industry.

Nowadays, one of the rising trends in this industry is self-driving and highly connected vehicles. Therefore, the cars of the future won’t be able to fly anytime soon but they will surely be able to drive themselves. Vehicle manufacturers and sales dealerships are also adopting a digital approach for their consumers. As a matter of fact, 75% of consumers who are interested in buying a vehicle will conduct their research online. Moreover, a digital approach in the automotive industry is also there to serve new consumer needs, especially since 56% of millennials would rather avoid interacting with salespeople in person.

Reshaping the logistics

The distribution and logistics industry is also experiencing vast changes due to the digital transformation. Logistics and distribution providers are practically being forced to adopt a new approach because their clients are doing so as well. For example, retail and ecommerce sectors are leveraging the newest technology to its fullest potential, thus making numerous promises to their customers, such as next-day or even same-day delivery, in order to boost customer experience. Also, manufacturers in the automotive industry want materials delivered at the right time for production, in order to avoid having to store materials around.

These demands force distribution and logistics providers to step up their game and deliver on their clients’ expectations. Even though logistic providers aren’t part of major brands per se, they still feel responsible for representing those brands through their services. Therefore, as manufacturers and retailers implement their digital approaches, distribution and logistics providers must become an extension of their clients’ brands, in order to remain competitive and relevant.

The world is already reshaped by the digital era and it continues to be transformed. As technology continues to advance, the increasing need for new solutions challenges various industries. Even the industries that are reluctant to transform will eventually have to do so. That is if they wish to remain successful and competitive in the market.

Guest author, Raul Harman, is a B.Sc. in Innovative entrepreneurship and has a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. While he’s not enjoying football and great food, you can find him on Technivorz.com

3 Tips for More Workplace Efficiency

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How efficient are your employees when you stop to think about it? As a business owner, you want to get the most out of your employees when it comes to efficiency in the workplace.

Sure, most of your employees likely give you a good day’s work by the time they leave the office each day, but could they be even more efficient? If so, what tools and resources would you need to prove them with to accomplish this?

If your business could be more efficient when all is said and done, will you move now to make that happen? If the answer is yes, what will it take in terms of time, effort, even money to accomplish this?

Always Be Thinking Ahead

So that you are able to have the most efficient workplace possible, take note of the following tips:

  1. Your employees

First and foremost, you have to make sure you are hiring the cream of the crop as it relates to your workers.

No matter what role or roles each individual you hire will be responsible for, you can’t afford to be hiring employees who are not team players. They also have to be willing to provide input as to how best to get the job the done.

Although you hire managers (maybe even yourself) to guide your workers, those employees should be encouraged to speak up on what is and is not working.

Finally, be sure that have regular company meetings to discuss efficiency in the workplace. You should even have a suggestion box, one where employees can anonymously leave suggestions on how to improve the flow of work.

  1. Your tools

As great as an employee might turn out to be after you hire them, he or she will require some tools and resources to actually accomplish all of the goals (and more) that you want from them.

That being the case, look at the tools you are providing your workers, reviewing to see where some deficiencies might be. Once they’re found, do you quickly correct them or let them linger?

In order to be a successful business, doing the former is a much better way to see your sales revenue increase over time.

Such tools as audio dictation for better workplace efficiency, video conferencing, credit card readers for sales out in the field etc. can all benefit your employees and your brand. Each of these (and many other tools) assists your employees in being more efficient and ultimately more productive.

Most importantly, be sure that each tool you bring in to your company is thoroughly vetted; meaning of course the respective vendor is too.

You do not want all kinds of hassles with each and any tool you use, hassles that can slow down your company’s ability to efficiently serve customers.

Do You Offer a Winning Workplace Atmosphere?

  1. Your rules

Last but certainly not least, what kind of workplace atmosphere do you offer your workers?

When employees come to work energized and ready to roll up their sleeves, you are much more inclined to get a productive day out of each and every one of them.

Yes, some you hire simply will not pan out over time, so don’t be shocked and/or disappointed when this happens. If you hire dozens and dozens of employees even over just a couple of years, you are going to hit a few bumps in the road along the way.

The most important factor here is making sure that you offer a workplace that is conducive to both business production and career satisfaction.

As employees see a chance for themselves to grow within your business, many of them will take full advantage of such opportunities.

Instead of a workplace that feels like a grind each day, most will view it as an opportunity to succeed professionally and personally.

In turn, you field a much more efficient workplace.

As a business owner and/or manager, how are you striving for workplace efficiency within your company?

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.